Whooping cough

A rare bacterial infectious disease characterized by severe coughing paroxysms with inspiratory whooping and posttussive vomiting, caused by infection with <i>Bordetella pertussis</i>. After a variable incubation time, the clinical course progresses through a catarrhal stage with sore throat, nasal congestion, rhinorrhea, and mild progressive dry cough, a paroxysmal stage with the typical paroxysmal coughing, and finally convalescence. Disease duration is usually 2-3 months, often with milder presentation in adolescents and adults than in infants and children.